Originally Posted by
coldfeet
This is the first of your designs that haven't struck me as unbearably ugly. It looks quite reasonable, it also looks fairly conventional, it also looks like it could be ridden fairly easily.
Comments, the front box is very large, and if filled with heavy stuff is probably going to make the steering cumbersome. Of course, being coroplast, it probably can't take very heavy stuff anyway, good for flowers and similar light /bulky things. The bottle cages are a good idea, but if you have room, put them on the rear outer edges? Less sticking out to catch.
Thanks for those kind words. I had to write down the acronym K.I.S.S. , to remind myself to keep it simple. Your comment hit the mark- the front box can NOT hold a great weight. But it does handle bulky items. I used this bike to carry plastic grocery bags back to the supermarket for recycling, just two weeks ago. Some of those bags had "Happy Holidays" printed on them, so it was like a six month accumulation (December thru July). But ALL the bags were stuffed into the front box and the (old) panniers. Lightweight, but bulky.
As for your suggestion of mounting the bottle cages on the rear outer edges of the box, maybe I'd better show another picture (which I shot in May of 2010, right after building the box):
You see there is no room i that location? The box is right up against the handlebars. I have thought about moving the bottle cages to the
Inside, Side edges, for better aerodynamics and to avoid snagging on things. But that would take away inside cubic volume.
I have started carrying a half gallon jug of refrigerator chilled water in the left rear pannier. The new panniers are 12 inches deep, versus seven inches for the old. So the center of gravity is lower. Now I've looked it over, and the thought came to me, "why not make the panniers even deeper?", but then I realized I need room to get to the axle QR if I need to change a tire.
This morning , I was thinking about my past attempts to build a Velomobile. I am now considering using Coroplast the whole way, making a boxy Velomobile, rather than streamlined. I think it would come-out looking more like a Jeep than a car. You remember the old Jeeps, with the canvas tops, and canvas doors? I think that would be more practical. The main purpose of such a vehicle would be riding in rain or cold weather, perhaps to get groceries , or go to the Library. No one wants to race me. I'm too old to race anyway. I don't want to do any more *stuff* strictly for aerodynamics.
In that last side-view photo, you might have noticed, I added another strip of coroplast on the top side edges of the rear panniers. I did this for stiffness, so when loaded, the sides will resist bowing out. I also wrote something in chalk on the sides- did you know that black coroplast makes a great blackboard? I can erase it whenever I want. Also, I'm going to leave the blue masking tape in place for a while.
I'm starting to ramble. Just look at the photo and you will see there is no room to put the bottle cages where you suggested.